Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Into the Blue Mountains

We started at The Three Sisters in Katoomba, where it was so cloudy and foggy that we could only see 1.5 Sisters. From the lookout point at the top, we couldn't actually see any Sisters in the valley - just fog. So we hiked ("bush walked" in Aus English) down a trail towards the Sisters, and from a second vantage point were able to make out a little bit of the geological formation. (The Sisters are three rock formations that stand together next to a cliff above a valley. There is an aboriginal myth about how they came to exist - that myth and better pictures of them, as well as how they formed, are here.)

Then, the fog started to clear, but just for a quick moment! Enough time to take two pictures:

Then we hiked a little further into the valley:

Then, we got back in the car and drove over to Leura Falls. It is about a 20 minute hike to the cascades, and the whole trail has many smaller falls along the way. It's a gorgeous hike. Below is one of the smaller falls along the way:

Another of the smaller falls:

The Leura Cascades:

From that same lookout, we were able to see a flock of noisy cockatoos flying by: